Kanye West Ends Exclusivity Agreement With Tidal

Four days ago (July 2), it was initially announced that Kanye Westchose to end his contract agreement with Tidal due to money disputes. JAY-Z's streaming service reportedly owes the rapper over $3 million dollars, and after weeks of both teams working (and failing) to come to an agreement, 'Ye's contract has since been deemed irreparable.

After much back and forth between Kanye and Tidal due to claims that they both haven't held up to their parts of the deal, today Billboard has officially confirmed 'Ye's music is no longer exclusive to their service. Tidal's sole rights were taken away since they could not keep up on the financial end, meaning future releases from The Life of Pablo emcee will be available on other streaming outlets.

The news of Ye's parting is particularly alarming after JAY-Z responded to his longtime friend's outbursts towards him on 4:44, Jay's now-platinum album. On his 13th release—which dropped less than a week ago—the Brooklyn rap vet sent some shots Kanye's way, mentioning him on the project's opening track "Kill Jay Z." After dropping some gems, Hov raps, “You walkin’ around like you invincible, you dropped outta school, you lost your principles/I know people backstab you, I felt bad too/But this ‘fuck everybody’ attitude ain’t natural/ But you ain’t a saint, this ain’t KumbaYe/But you got hurt because you did cool by ‘Ye/You gave him 20 million without blinkin/He gave you 20 minutes on stage, fuck was he thinkin’?/’Fuck wrong with everybody?’ is what you sayin’/But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane.”

There's no word on where the pair stands now, but unless his separation from Tidal serves as his response, Kanye still hasn't given his thoughts on the track. Now that Kanye's out of his deal with Tidal, TMZ reports Hov might sue Yeezy if he goes and cuts a new deal with another streaming service (like Apple, for instance), but apparently 'Ye is done with exclusive deals.